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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23381392">Luther, Learning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuspiggyback/pseuds/siriuspiggyback'>siriuspiggyback</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Closer I Am To Fine [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dysfunctional Family, Gen, No Apocalypse (Umbrella Academy), No Incest, Personal Growth, Sibling Bonding, they're all living at the academy and growing because i said so</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:47:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23381392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/siriuspiggyback/pseuds/siriuspiggyback</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Luther is twenty-nine years old, and he’s only now learning how to be a brother.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Diego Hargreeves &amp; Luther Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Luther Hargreeves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Closer I Am To Fine [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681714</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>429</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Luther, Learning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Since the almost apocalypse, Luther has been learning a lot.</p><p>Or, unlearning. Unlearning the things dad had taught him about the world, about himself and his siblings. Luther is twenty-nine years old, and he’s only now learning how to be a brother. How to be a person, not a soldier. How to listen to people, have conversations, real conversations, not just an exchange of orders.</p><p>In Vanya’s case, he is learning how to make amends. Apologies have never been encouraged in the Hargreeves household, but Luther has made mistakes. A lot of mistakes. He hopes that he can fix them in time, but for now, he will settle for apologising, and not repeating them. He can tell that earning forgiveness will take longer. Vanya is still hesitant to talk to him, and flinches away when he gets too close. She is scared of him. That has been a hard thing to learn. At first, he had blamed it on dad, for making him huge and monstrous, but he knows that wasn’t it. It is his actions that have caused her fear. He has to take responsibility for that.</p><p>He has always been strong, but now he can see the imbalance it causes.</p><p>Now, he tries to make himself smaller, softer. Moves slowly. He is careful not to invade others' space, not to turn confrontational. Not everything is a battle.</p><p>Diego challenges this resolution frequently. Constantly. </p><p>The pair haven’t always been at odds. It is strange to think about, but as kids, they had been close for a while. They are both naturally athletic, kinetic creatures, and as children they both enjoyed the same sort of games, both shared a protective streak for the smaller siblings. They are both competitive, but it hasn’t always been a bad thing. When they were young, it meant that they laughed and fought in equal measures, pushing each other in a way that helped them grow.  Then their father had fostered it into something toxic, twisted it until it pushed them further apart instead.</p><p>When his siblings had left, he had missed Diego fiercely despite it all.</p><p>One of the people he's having to relearn the most is Klaus.</p><p>Klaus, who is sober. Klaus, who saw Ben, could even manifest him. Klaus, whom Luther had dismissed as the clown, the junkie, the attention seeker. How many of those words had their father put in his head? How had Luther let him do that?</p><p>He has been coming to the realisation that Klaus is capable of being serious, even though he tends to wrap it up in jokes, making each spilled secret into a performance. It's hard to differentiate his jokes from his sincerity. Luther wonders how many times he has dismissed Klaus because of that, how many times Klaus has tried to reach out only for him to assume it was just- Klaus being Klaus.</p><p>Luther's new resolution is to always assume Klaus was being serious.</p><p>Sometimes it works. Sometimes it makes Luther look a little dumb. Apparently, when Klaus had announced he was <em>too gay to drive, </em>he really was just joking. (Luther had thought so, but he couldn’t be sure.)</p><p>He thinks it's worth it, though, when he picks up on things that Klaus says, things that everyone else was going to laugh off. </p><p>So when Klaus says, after Diego’s failed attempt at cooking, <em>I haven’t tasted anything so horrendous since the war, </em>Luther says, “Which war?”</p><p>Klaus seems to sort of- freeze. He goes still in a way that Luther rarely witnesses, face blank, hands stopped mid gesture. Then, all at once, he comes back online, smiling widely. Luther isn’t sure what it was about it, but it doesn’t look sincere. Something about his eyes. “Oh, nothing,” Klaus says easily, pulling his leg up to rest his chin on. “Just y’know, Klaus being Klaus.”</p><p>Luther hesitates. He’s never been skilled at reading people - he hasn’t had all that much practice - but he thinks that Klaus is lying. He says so. “What are you hiding?”</p><p>Gaze flicking between Luther, Diego, and his feet, Klaus swallows. “Nothing,” he says.</p><p>“What’s with the interrogation?” Diego asks.</p><p>He puffs up, ready to defend himself, to point the finger at Klaus and his evasiveness, and then he just... stops. Breathes out. This is how he becomes a better person: in the small, everyday things. “Sorry,” he says to Klaus. </p><p>“No, no, don’t apologise,” Klaus says, flapping a hand in his direction.</p><p>Diego purses his lips for a moment. Then, “You totally were lying, though.”</p><p>Klaus gapes at them. “You’re ganging up on me,” he says, flummoxed. “You two? Seriously?”</p><p>Luther looks at Diego, who matches his gaze. It feels like something settles between them, maybe. Like they could go back to who they used to be, the protectors, the big brothers. He smiles. “Yup.”</p><p>Crossing his arms, Diego says, “We sure are. So what the hell did you mean, <em>since the war?”</em></p><p>"Well, uh, it's kind of a funny story," Klaus says, scratching along his jaw. "I kind of time travelled, a bit."</p><p>And that- isn't what Luther had been expecting. He isn't sure what he was expecting, but not that. "You- what? How? And <em>when?" </em>Luther fumbles for the right question.</p><p>"The vet bar," Diego says nonsensically.</p><p>"Ha, yeah. I had a little excursion to Vietnam, got a tan, came back," Klaus says glibly, eyeing the exit as he pushes his chair out. </p><p>His first instinct is to press for more, or maybe to question the veracity of it. He swallows that, and instead goes with, "Are you okay?"</p><p>It seems that was the last question Klaus was expecting; Luther wonders if this is the first time he's been asked it since he got back. "I-" Klaus stops, jaw chewing on words that don't make it out, and he's suddenly reminded of Diego, before he outgrew that stutter. "Well, I'm alive," he settles on.</p><p>"The bar's that low, huh?" Diego snorts.</p><p>There's no amusement in his eyes when his mouth twists upwards. "Guess so."</p><p>The moment is slipping away. Luther wants to stop time, wants to find a way to make Klaus still and serious, wants him to listen, but he doesn't know how to do that without turning into <em>Number One. </em>He is turned passive by his indecision. Klaus edges away, step by step, as Luther battles with himself.</p><p>Just as he reaches the threshold, Luther says, "I'm glad you came back." His heart thumps in his chest, strangely nervous, and he feels Diego's eyes on him.</p><p>Klaus half turns, eyes skating up to meet his. He blinks, and says, "Me too, bro." The words sound heavy with meaning that Luther couldn't quite grasp.</p><p>As Klaus walks away, Luther smiles to himself, because he has just proven that he could be a brother.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm planning on doing one of these for each of the siblings, so if there's anything you'd like to see, let me know!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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